Elliot Rodger’s disturbing YouTube videos were known to police during check, but they didn’t watch them

LOS ANGELES — Santa Barbara Sheriff’s deputies checking on Elliot Rodger weeks before he killed six college students were aware of but didn’t view disturbing videos that prompted calls about his well-being.

The sheriff’s office says Thursday that four deputies, a police officer and a dispatcher in training were sent to Rodger’s apartment April 30 after being informed by the county’s mental health hotline that Rodger’s therapist and mother were concerned about videos he posted online.

They questioned him for 10 minutes and then briefed Rodger’s mother by telephone before having him speak to her directly. They found him shy, timid and polite. He told them he was having trouble fitting in socially in Isla Vista and the videos were a way to express himself.

Rodger’s parents say they’re living in “hell on Earth” after their son went on a jealousy-fuelled killing spree through Isla Vista, Calif., last week.

“Knowing that it was our son’s action that caused the tragedy can only be described as hell on Earth,” parents Peter Rodger and Li Chin wrote in the statement, which was read aloud by family friend Simon Astaire on NBC’s the Today show.

“It breaks our hearts on a level that we didn’t think possible.”

According to Astaire, the parents were “going through absolutely enough” and hadn’t read the chilling manifesto, which totals more than 140 pages.

“It is just awful. It’s an awful piece of writing,” Astaire, the family spokesman, told NBC’s Matt Lauer. “[The parents] have diminished. They’ve gone down in size. They’re virtually unrecognizable.

“They are mourning the victims more than they are mourning their son.”

After reading an email from their son’s therapist and seeing video he’d posted to Youtube, Rodger’s parents frantically sought to stop him, racing across town in two separate cars. But over the radio, they heard reports of a mass killing.

“[They are hearing] that a black BMW is involved and they’re living their nightmare,” said Astaire. “They’re hearing their son is murdering people.”

In response to the shooting, California lawmakers are championing legislation that would permit law enforcement officials and private individuals to seek a restraining order from a judge that would keep people with a potential propensity for violence from buying or owning a gun, in a process that would be similar to the one currently used for restraining orders in cases of domestic violence.

Rodger, who was able to buy three guns and go on a murder spree despite warnings from his family and mental health professionals that he was unstable and possibly dangerous. It is unclear, however, if the measures contained in the bills could have prevented his actions if they had been law.

Although mass shootings have not translated into stricter gun control legislation on the national level, they have prompted changes on the state level – largely limiting access to guns, but in some cases loosening existing laws, which gun advocates say give people more leeway to arm themselves against criminals.

After a mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, both Connecticut and New York implemented bans on assault rifles and created stricter background checks.

But California, which already has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, could go even further. The legislation, known as a gun violence restraining order, would allow people to notify courts or law enforcement officials if they are concerned that a family member or friend is at risk of committing violence.

In other developments on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara County sheriff said that the department was investigating whether Rodger — who stabbed three people to death in his apartment before shooting his remaining victims from his car — may have drugged the initial victims before he stabbed them.

Since the attacks on Friday, Richard Martinez, the father of one of the victims, Christopher Michael-Martinez, has become a vocal and emotional proponent for gun control legislation.

At a memorial service Tuesday at the university, Martinez led thousands of students gathered in a chant of “not one more,” which has become a rallying cry for gun legislation in social media.

“The problem with piecemeal legislation is it’s like building a car out of parts from different manufacturers, and expecting it to run effectively,” Martinez said in an interview Wednesday. “That’s not an effective way to approach such a complicated problem.”

Martinez has said he wants to meet with Peter Rodger, the father of the attacker, and work with him to push for more gun control. A spokesman for Peter Rodger said Wednesday that the two men are trying to arrange a meeting.